Top 8 Reasons to Shred your Documents

Paper shredding and document destruction is very important this day and age. There are serious dangers to not properly disposing of your documents in a secure fashion. The following is a list of reasons why you should shred your confidential documents.

1. Identity Theft:
According to a recent article written by MSN, identity theft affects 11 million people a year, at a cost of $54 billion. In order to avoid becoming a statistic shredding is imperative, and hiring a shredding service, like Mobile Record Shredders will help you dispose of your confidential documents safely and securely.

2. Old Tax Returns:
Most people save their tax returns in the chance that they get audited. After three years of returns you are free to throw them away. Tax information has confidential information included on it and after three years can be adequately disposed of.

3. Old Photo IDs:
If you like to save your IDs, such as college IDs, security badges from old employers or even old state IDs, consider using a document destruction service to shred them. While photo IDs alone aren’t enough to steal your identity, the information included on the ID could be used against you in a larger scheme.

4. Bank Statements:
Any documents that include bank account numbers should be properly disposed of and shredded. This includes paper bank statements, old bank statements, and anything with your personal or company banking information included on it.

5. Credit Card Offers:
When you receive generic bank offers in the mail, including credit card offers, or new account offers, and you are not planning to take the bank up on their offer, you should dispose of the offers right away. The priority is to make sure identity thieves do not open new cards in your name.

6. Canceled or Void Checks:
Even if you write “void” on a check, it doesn’t mean the information on cannot be used against you. The bank routing number and account numbers listed on the check are just as easy to steal even if it says void. Make sure to shred all void or canceled checks upon cancelation to avoid any problems with identity thieves.

7. Pay Stubs:
At first glance, pay stubs seem harmless, but they do contain critical information that can be used by an identity thief. Some pay stubs include financial institution information and account information, Make sure to dispose of them properly.

8. Convenience Checks:
Have you ever received one of those blank checks from your credit card company, which you can use to borrow against your credit line? Thos are called convenience checks. If these checks end up in the wrong hands you could obviously be in trouble. Make sure to properly dispose of these checks so the information stays safe against identity thieves.

Shredding documents is not only for large companies with something to hide, average people have documents at home that include information that identity thefts pray on, including documents that include social security numbers and bank information. Make sure these documents are shredded properly. Mobile Record Shredders is here to help. Visit our website, for more information about document destruction with Mobile Record Shredders.

The Purpose of a NAID Certification

 

NAID, the National Association for Information Destruction is a voluntary program, allowing shredding service providers to become AAA certified and fall into an elite category of document destruction services. With this certification, NAID members will be subject to both scheduled and unannounced audits, to ensure they are using best practices in document destruction including “mobile and/or plant-based operations in paper or printed media, micro media, computer hard drive destruction, and/or computer hard drive sanitization.”

The rigorous process helps companies around the world to set the standard on document destruction and abide by laws and regulations protecting the proper disposal of confidential information

Each NAID member must operate under the strict guidelines offered and pass the audit with flying colors to become certified. Make sure your document destruction and professional shredding service are NAID certified. For more information on the NAID Certification, click here.

Always know, Mobile Record Shredders have a AAA NAID Certification. Your documents are in good hands with us.

To shred or not to shred? That is the question.

Stop Identity Theft through Shredding.

The Supreme Court has stated that the “expectation of privacy in trash left for collection in an area accessible to public… is unreasonable.” This expectation is exactly why identity theft is so prevalent and why thieves feel the need to dig through your trash to find confidential information.

The solution to this problem is to shred. Shredding allows you to properly dispose of documents containing sensitive information without putting your information in harm's way. You can literally shred anything that has a signature, social security number, medical and legal information, account numbers and more.  See a long list of items to shred below:

.                Shipping Labels

·                Bank and ATM receipts and statements

·                Canceled and void checks

·                Credit card statements, bills, carbon copies, receipts

·                Documents containing maiden names

·                Address labels from junk mail and magazines

·                Birth certificate copies

·                Employee pay stubs

·                Employment records

·                Expired passports and visas

·                Driver’s licenses and items containing driver’s license numbers

·                Legal documents

·                Investment, stock and property transactions

·                Pre-approved credit card applications

·                Anything containing your social security number

·                Transcripts

·                Tax forms

 

Call us today and let us help you stay safe and secure from identity theft.

Stay Compliant With The Law

Legal requirements such as HIPPA, FACTA, and Gramm-Leach-Bliley all require companies to properly destroy personal information when it is discarded. At Mobile Record Shredders, we take document destruction seriously and ensure your documents are properly destroyed up to standard with these legal requirements. We are a member of the National Association for Information Destruction (NAID) and have an AAA+ Certification, which means we follow standards and procedures outlined by NAID to destroy your documents and keep your company at the highest legal regard. We follow standards and procedures outlined by NAID to continue our certification and make sure your document destruction needs are compliant with not only national document destruction laws, but are up to NAID standards.

If you have questions about how we can keep you compliant, let us know. Or visit the NAID certification requirements and find out what makes us so compliant.

A Breakdown of Our Services

At Mobile Record Shredders, we do not tread lightly on the topic of confidentiality. We have tailored our service offerings to make it easy for you to take part in our document destruction offerings and keep your information confidential. Below is a breakdown of what we can offer you:

One-Time: Bulk Clean-out Shredding Services

On-Going: Regularly Scheduled Shredding Services

Shred Drop Off Locations:

We offer drop off locations in Pueblo, Colorado Springs, Monument, Canon City, Lamar, and La Junta for those that have smaller document destruction needs.

Call us or chat with an online representative today about your shredding needs.

Southern Colorado Small Business Expo returns Saturday

"More than 65 vendors are set to take part in the annual Southern Colorado Small Business Expo & Community Marketplace Event on Saturday. The free event -- open to the public -- takes place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Sangre de Cristo Arts & Conference Center.

The event features prize giveaways, entertainment, and food.

"It is an event where you can bring the whole family and spend the afternoon together at an event everyone will enjoy," said Caroline Trani, director of the Southern Colorado Small Business Development Center, the event's organizer.

The event also is designed to give Southern Colorado merchants a single venue where they showcase their products and services to each other and the public. "It's become an annual kick-off event to the spring season for many businesses," SBDC officials said. The event is in its 10th year.

A visit by the Easter Bunny, a magic show by Mr. Magic and free document shredding by Mobile Record Shredders are among the special activities planned.

Mobile Record Shredders has partnered with SBDC for the past six years to offer the free record shredding as a public service.

The shredding service is offered at no cost from 1 to 3 p.m. with donations accepted to benefit the SBDC business support services and scholarships."

Read the full article.

Call us today at (719) 544-5460 or fill out the form on the right for more information on shredding services available near you, and we will get you several quoted options for free.

Your Trash is an Identity Thieves Treasure.

Did you know, the minute your trash bin hits the curb, anything in it is legally there for the taking? Most people don’t realize this when they through their credit card statements, or confidential documents in the trash.  According to law, once you place that pail or bag at your curb, you are giving up any expectation of privacy to its contents. This means anyone, looking to find confidential information is able to rifle through your garbage with no questions asked.

What is done with that trash once it leaves your location is an entirely different matter. Identity thieves can commit fraud in multiple ways, basically whatever ultimately makes them money. Almost any identifying data, such as birth dates, social security numbers, and even a mobile phone number can be used to commit identity theft. Identity theft now occurs in as regularly as one in three people within the United States and this number continues to grow.

Proper destruction of sensitive information is the key to stopping this growing epidemic. Luckily with Mobile Record Shredders, this can easily be accomplished. Whether it be dropping off your confidential documents, or requesting a pick up service for your company, we are here to destroy the most sensitive information you have.

Any trash that includes identifying data should be properly destroyed. As you now know, it only takes one identity thief going through your trash to have your confidential information compromised. Even something that seems as small as your name and address can be used against you to commit identity theft.

Shred today! Contact us for more information at 719-544-5460 or live chat with one of our representatives on our website. We are here to help you with your document destruction needs.

Medical Record Destruction

With the age of the internet, identity theft is a large problem. With online shopping, auto pay, and anywhere else you would be inputting your credit card information, it is easier than ever for identity thieves to get ahold of your payment information. It’s important to keep your confidential information private so it is out of reach of those praying thieves.

Your credit card isn’t the only thing that can be stole on the internet. Medical records with your health insurance information listed can be used by thieves to receive health information under your name. Congress passed the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, encouraging transactions made by insurance providers and health services companies to be performed electronically. If they are in hard copy form, they need to be destroyed properly.

Which is exactly why you should hire a shredding service to destroy your medical records - from a service provider standpoint or if you have personal copies of your own.

Keep your medical records out of harms way and shred! Contact us for more information on how we can help.

Get rid of documents you no longer need!

Stacks of paper here. And more there. Old files on one shelf and tax returns and bank statements on the other. Get rid of the clutter if you don’t need them! But shred, to avoid any worry of your documents getting into the wrong hands.

At Mobile Record Shredders, we can help you.  Rather than purchasing a paper shredder, you can hire a service, that will come to your office and destroy confidential documents for you, your employees, and your customers – Keeping everyone safe and office time shredding at a minimum.

We can set up a regularly scheduled service, or we can come as needed. You can also bring your documents into our Pueblo location and we will shred them on site for you, box by box. Documents are fully destroyed and entirely out of harms way. Plus, we recycle 100% of the paper we shred.

Feel free to call us to find out more or for a quote today. We are here to help.

Business Trash is Identity Thief and Corporate Espionage Treasure

What is one person’s trash is another person’s treasure -- Especially when it comes to business “trash” disposal. It is absolutely not wise for any business to simply throw away old documents without proper document destruction. Not only based on the environment impact, but in many cases it’s illegal. Federal and state regulations call for the secure destruction of specific confidential information, including social security numbers, medical records, and industry-specific data, just to name a few. Without the proper disposal of these documents companies can get in a slew of trouble and be severely fined.

In a secure shredding program, like the shredding services that Mobile Record Shredders provides, your company can either bring your documents to our shredding facility, or we provide you with a special locked bin that we pick up and shred in our secure document destruction trucks. The paper is shredded beyond any possible reconstruction and is then recycled.

Contact us with your questions about document destruction, what items you should shred, our recycling program and more. Click on the live chat button to speak with someone now.